International Women’s Day – Photo by Chelsi Peter from Pexels
Here are my 3 favourite approaches to promoting gender equality (what are yours)?
Time To Talk About Health And Wellbeing (Picture Credit Pexels dot com)
A new year means we can take stock and make time to change our lives. We can make time to pursue goals that improve our work performance and our life outside the 9 to 5. So, this is a great time to talk about improving our (mental and physical) health and well-being.
With life being a hectic mix of commitments and claims on our time, it is important we practice self-care. Doing that helps us care for customers, colleagues and community too. Here are 3 good reasons that show how time devoted to self-care helps us reduce the pressure that contributes to mental health difficulties:
Connection
No one achieves all their goals alone. We are social beings and when we help others we are keeping the door open to ask for help for ourselves. By being part of a healthy community or team, we are investing in our own well-being.
Protection
When we respect our own boundaries, we make self-care a priority. When we make time for ourselves we can be calmer than when we are overwhelmed by others’ requests for our time.
Reflection
The time we earmark for ourselves is the resource we can devote to reviewing our goals, forming support networks and sharing the benefits of our personal growth with loved ones and friends.
How Will You Use This Knowledge?
Thanks for reading this post. I hope it makes a difference to your performance this week. What is your secret for safeguarding your mental well-being during a busy time at work? Add your comment and deepen this conversation.
Feel free to add a Like too if this has been a useful discussion and please share this post with someone who could benefit from reading it.
Thanks Roger
Thumbs Up For Resilience Image Via Pexels.Com
A lot can change in 48 hours.
For instance last Monday you might have had a smile on your face as a result of the International Day of Happiness. You might even have seen the How To Be Happy recipes in the media and started planning the steps to take to become more satisfied with your work, life or family.
Then on Wednesday came the terrorist attack in central London, which resulted in the death of police officer Keith Palmer and three others, plus over injuries to 50 other people. That is the kind of event which causes everyone to pause and wonder if there is a future in trying to make a positive change in the world.
Rising Above Set Backs
From the extreme of terror attacks to the everyday reality of negative people, life puts challenges in our way. Our ability to respond to those challenges can sometimes use a boost.
Instead of being knocked off course by testing events some people naturally continue to plan; take action; contribute to a better world.
What sets those people apart?
In a word they embrace resilience (they recover quickly from difficulties).
3 Steps To Greater Resilience
If you want a greater ability to bounce back from set backs here are 3 steps to get you started
How Will You Build Up Your Resilience?
Use the comment section to share your strategy. How will you add to your stocks of resilience when you work on your goals? Please like and share this post if you know someone who will find it helpful.
How Much Do You Love What You Do? Image From Pexels.Com
What would it feel like if you loved how you spent your day?
Imagine if you spent every waking moment using your natural skills to create exciting results. How happy would you and your clients be at the end of the week?
Also, think about the joy you would have if your non-work time was spent with people who were supportive, optimistic and focused on the goal of exchanging their experience with others to improve products and processes.
Like doesn’t have to be a grind.
But Life Is Hard Work!
For some people, especially those taking action to achieve their goals, life is enjoyable. They are not stuck accepting an situation they don’t love. They are thinking and acting differently and achieving different and better results.
Why?
Because they want to love what they do.
So I Can Just Decide To Love What I Do?
Yes. Maybe your occupation isn’t where you find satisfaction. Love might be linked to your family life, or volunteering. Having something uplifting makes life much more enjoyable.
These and similar themes are central to Napoleon Hill’s ‘Think And Grow Rich’, life and leadership guide which was published 80 years ago this year.
To paraphrase from Hill’s 1937 publication:
We have become what we are because of our dominating thoughts and desires.
So if we keep thinking of ourselves as stuck in a rut, isolated and powerless we reduce our chances of moving forward, connecting to a support system and loving our situation.
What’s Your Next Step?
So, I’m putting this post out to encourage people feeling stuck in a rut. Invest some time in writing down what your ideal situation will be in 12 month’s time. Commit to taking action each week to move toward your goal. Share your success story with one other person so they get motivated to change too.
Are you ready to pay attention to your needs? What initial step will you take toward your goal this month? How will that step help you start loving what you do? Leave a reply and have your say.
If you are in need of some support you can always download a free copy of my ABC guide via the Members Access page. Don’t forget to Like, Share and Comment on the post through social media so you start connecting to other goal-driven people too.
Finally, however you spend it, have a brilliant February.
Roger
Happiness And Empathy Help Build Well Being
You might know that we are most of the way through International Men’s Health Week (13 to 19 June).
The 2016 theme is setting goals and taking action to reduce the stresses in your life. Being a happier man is one of the positive results.
A week ago, when I started planning what to post here about IMHW I was creating the sort of ‘How To’ information which could lead to less stressful living. It helps that 7 days ago I was also creating visuals, like the one above, as part of a Carers Week workshop on Experiencing Greater Happiness..
The workshop highlighted the close relationship between happiness and empathy, well-being Mindfulness and other healthier living ideas.
As I say that was the content I had planned.
Something changed over the weekend though.
What Can Happen When Empathy Is Missing?
Over the weekend a mentally troubled man decided to drive for an hour across Florida from his home to his destination and commit mass murder. This wasn’t a spur of the moment thing. He had armed himself with an assault rifle and a handgun.
His crime scene was the Pulse Bar (a venue which serves Orlando’s ethnically diverse Lesbian, Gay, Bi, Trans and progressive straight communities). On the weekend it was full of people living life, enjoying liberty and pursuing happiness. Free to do so during Pride Month or any other time.
The shooter took advantage of that freedom.
He shot his way in, stalking the people he didn’t cut down immediately and holding some hostage. Ultimately he killed 49 people. His spree also led to 53 more clubbers being hospitalised.
Now every partner, sibling, parent and friend of the dead and injured will spend the rest of their lives living with the pain he inflicted.
How Men Can Use Empathy
A few days has made a big difference to my sense of what ‘men’s health’ means.
From wanting to talk about the simple goal of happiness for men I end up talking about big ideas like empathy, well-being, connection and care.
We need to work on solutions for men – straight, bi, gay, queer, questioning men – so that we are better able to manage our inner state and our relationships with the world.
In the days ahead it is important we do what we can to connect to and care for each other a bit more than usual.
We can all use empathy to better understand what is happening in other people’s lives and how they might be feeling.
In particular, if you feel there is someone close to you who seems overwhelmed take time to check in with him. That’s really important since (Breaking News) men don’t always volunteer information about ‘feelings’.
So fellas, try empathy. Simply asking your mate, your brother, your partner ‘How Are You’, then listening to the tone of the answer and supporting them through tough times can make all the difference.
How Will You Make A Difference?
Thanks for reading this post on the challenges facing men. How will you act differently now? As I finalised these words the discussion over the murder of British Parliamentarian Jo Cox – and the disconnected background of the suspect – is ringing in my ears.
Something has to change.
Feel free to share this post with anyone who would find it useful. I am on Twitter @RogerD_Said if you want to comment on the themes I mentioned.
Would you say your communication skills were above average? Do your emails have clarity and purpose? How about your clients, do they always engage with your messages, taking the necessary action as a result?
If you answered ‘Yes’ research suggests you probably accomplish a lot in your work, by getting your message across effectively. I believe you will also gain if you spend some time as a volunteer, using those skills to benefit your community.
By offering your existing skills to a project you inevitably highlight your learning needs; this can lead you to acquire new abilities, gain confidence and benefit others in the process. Your morale increases when your skills are being put to good use (OECD data suggests in the UK people spend 2 minutes daily in volunteer activity, compared to 6 minutes in Australia and 8 minutes in the US. That’s just a snapshot of the positive energy being generated globally through volunteer effort).
Using Skills Well Benefits You & Your Community
In the short term by volunteering you will be affecting and improving the lives of a range of clients, prompting them to take action and make a difference in their own, plus others’ lives. From my experience in England Community First (#commfirst on Twitter) projects and panels benefit from volunteers, like you, who can communicate effectively.
There are plenty of other voluntary projects you could offer your communication (or other) skills to, depending on your location. Your local voluntary action co-ordinating organisation should be able to signpost you to a list of outfits in need.
So, when will you take the first step to put your skills to use for others’ benefit? Doing this helps you find renewed purpose and confidence, which can feed back into your work and make you a more valuable member of staff.
Want to find out more about goals you can explore, relating to your work and life? Then visit the Archive section here, or take a look on Facebook and Google+ too.
Experience Your Life 